A row has broken out among councillors in Falmouth over a sub-committee which meets privately to come up with budget proposals – mainly over the cost of keeping the public toilets open.

Councillor Roger Bonney tabled a motion for a working party to be set up excluding the four members of the sub finance committee to examine every part of Falmouth Town Council expenditure in order to reduce it – in particular the toilets.

“I find it offensive for people that pay rates to keep toilets going," he said. "I want an explanation as to why we are spending £21,000 on toilets."

But sub-committee chairman Candy Atherton said there was “nothing secret” about the meetings and would be happy if members wanted to come and listen, but did not want them involved in the discussion.

“If we have to go through page after page and challenge everything, be prepared to set days aside,” she said.

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The sub-committee meets with the chairman of each of the council’s other committees to look at what the priorities are and then meet with senior officers to look at the financial implications of each.

Webber Street toilets have been reopened thanks to Falmouth Town Council

Once that is done the committee looks at every aspect, exploring various options to try and reduce costs, before a draft budget is put to the finance and general purposes committee, of which every councillor is a member.

This year Ms Atherton said committees were asked for their priorities for the next three years.

“This year to ensure everyone has a voice we are planning for three years to ensure it is not coming out of the blue," she said. “We had an event and wanted to know what councillor wanted more money spent on and some councillors attended.”

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Mr Bonney said he put forward the motion mainly because of his concern at the £21,000 spent each year on the public toilets.

“To spend that on toilet consumables, over £400 a week plus wages, lighting, water and rates, the bill is tremendous," he said. "We can’t expect the ratepayer to keep paying and suffering financially."

The toilets used to managed by Cornwall Council, which introduced a charge to use them, but they were taken over by Falmouth Town Council after people complained.

Ms Atherton said: “The toilets are the big issue in the town. It is important to have good clean public toilets. Members of public want to have good toilets and happy to spend that money.

“Discussions went on for years and people said they don’t want to spend 20p to use the toilets. We crunched down those costs.”

Councillor Matthew McCarthy suggested that instead of a separate working party, that all members were able to “sit and observe” on the sub-committee.

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Councillor Steve Eva said by opening up the meeting, members would be more aware of what was being discussed.

“All we are asking is that as councillors we have an idea of what’s going into the budget," he said. “Last year and the year before the draft budget arrived in front of me with about two days’ notice and we had to make a decision. We are not allowed to go to sub-committee to hear what’s happening.

“It’s okay saying we can put ideas to sub-committee, but I feel that the committee of four people is not a true representation of what the council is about.

“Hours and hours of budget we should all have input then we would have more faith in what happens in the end. Every other committee is open to every councillor and there is no reason at all why councillors shouldn’t be at the sub-committee.”

But Ms Atherton pointed out that members should be scrutinising every line of the minutes of every committee at each meeting, not just when the proposed budget comes through.

“(former councillor) Vicky Eva at the last meeting of the budget spent an hour going through the issues and I believe we answered all her questions," she said. "I am very proud of what we have been doing as a council."

Deputy mayor Patricia Minson said Falmouth was unusual as no other council has all members sitting on its main finance and general purposes meeting.

She said: “Sarah Mason (Cornwall Association of Local Councils) believes it is an inefficient use of councillors' time. We have more input as councillors in this council than most others do. You get figures every month and you should be analysing them.”

It was agreed, with the exception of Mr Bonney, who voted against, that members would be allowed to listen to the sub-committee discussions.